Posts tagged ‘Cloud Computing’

Subscribe

“Battles over formats and standards in the technology industry aren’t new. Whether it was e-mail, word processing, graphical images or even some more current like the apps on your smart phone, each new innovation typically starts out somewhat proprietary and incompatible.

Today we live in a world where a lot of those battles have been fought and won while some are only starting to heat up. Formats tend to resolve themselves through standards so that things like e-mail and web pages “just work.” That or at a minimum the technology we use evolves and hides it all from us via various forms of automatic conversion. In a world where so many technologies seem to get along – why shouldn’t clouds? The answer isn’t so simple and, as is often the case, history has a way of repeating itself.

Just as email initially emerged inside of private datacenters, so has cloud infrastructure. It was initially based on virtualization technology and, depending on what kind of IT shop was involved, you most likely ended up on VMware if you were trying to make your core datacenter more efficient by virtualizing legacy servers; Xen if you had a significant Linux or Java developer presence where the need to rapidly provision test and develop machines was important; and maybe even Citrix if you were using Metaframe for serving up applications to remote users or thin clients. For some companies, cloud adoption started outside the corporate datacenter inside of the VMware vCloud or Amazon Web Services (AWS).”

Like this:

Someday, cloud security vendors and cloud services providers will convince enterprise IT that it’s safe to move sensitive data and mission critical apps from the private cloud to the public cloud.

Unfortunately, that day has not yet arrived.

Security practitioners, consultants and analysts interviewed for this story say cloud security vendors and cloud services providers have a long way to go before enterprise customers will be able to find a comfort zone in the public cloud, or even in a public/private hybrid deployment.

My Take> Until we have more standards around Cloud Security Models, Interoperability Standards and Data Classification Standards this will remain an issue for the adolecent cloud industry. As an industry we’ve only just got our “P’s”, and we can’t wait to explore the super information highway, but we still need to learn how the road-rules apply in the real world!

What I find most interesting, is that this is yet another article quoting that service providers are doing security better than a lot of in-house IT teams.
So while security in the cloud is not YET perfect, it’s not as bad as sometimes depicted! Cloud Computing providers that already operate facilities and services under the ISO27001, PCI-DSS and ASIO T4 standards already have a pretty good start. I would argue that providers operating under these security standards, of which there only a handful, would provide better security standards than more than 90% of the Enterprise and Corporates businesses out there. Perhaps Cloud Standards built around these security models and data classifications would be a good start!! Your thoughts??

Like this:

“I would like to invite our valued readers to the launch of iTnews’ latest investigation into cloud computing, titled Which Clouds Play Nice, on 19 October 2011.

The report, prepared by our editorial team and developer Sam Gentle, evaluates the world’s largest software-as-a-service providers on their API coverage, adherence to open standards, native integration with other enterprise tools and ease of migration.”

My Take> A great opportunity to get some insight and real world perspective on Cloud Integration from a developer and the leading tech journo’s and researchers from iTnews. I’ll be sticking my head into this one!

Like this:

This is a bit of a shameless plug I know, but since NTT made the significant investments in Dimension Data, Frontline Systems and Harbour MSP in Australia, not a lot has been said about what we are doing with all these amazing companies. I hope to give you a little insight below into how we are going to market as a fully integrated ICT provider.

In the near future I will be sharing information on the launch of our exiciting Cloud 2.0 platform in Australia. We will be one of the first regions globally to go to this new advanced cloud computing platform. Stay tuned!

About NTT Australia

NTT is a Tier 1 Global Carrier and ICT Solutions provider, ranked #31 in the US Fortune 500 with Global Revenues of US$105 Billion.
Providing ICT services around the globe in 159 countries, we are your ICT gateway to Asia and the world.

NTT Australia is your local partner for global ICT Solutions with particular strength in Asia. We provide high quality managed security, enterprise hosting, voice, data and IP services with leadership in IPv6 to businesses in more than 150 countries. NTT Australia has two Data Centres in Australia and Global Network POPS in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Auckland.

NTT, the Japanese global ICT provider continues to make significant investments to support businesses in Australia & Asia Pacific. In 2010 NTT purchased Dimension Data and in May 2011 NTT announced the acquisition of Frontline Systems and Harbour MSP in Australia. NTT now has revenues exceeding $1 Billion in Australia.

NTT operates the following solution portfolio in Australia & Internationally:

NTT is one of the world’s few true Tier 1 IP Carriers with total diversity across the entire network all the way to the customer’s dedicated environment.

International MPLS IP Private Network covering 159 countries

Global IP Transit

IPv6/IPv4

VoIP

Infrastructure Services

Infrastructure Services at NTT help to stabilise and optimise current operations helping companies reap real value in every step.

IT Service Desk

Business IT Process Implementation and Consulting Services

Infrastructure Solutions

Cloud Computing (Private, Hybrid, Public)

Onsite or Co-location

Video, Web & Audio Conferencing enablement and service provision

Application Services

NTT, with its expertise and experience helps clients develop and support applications, thus helping businesses maximise their return on investment.

Application Development Services

Application Management Services

Business Intelligence

Products and Solutions

Transformation and Modernisation Services

Professional Services

Business Process Outsourcing

BPO Services at NTT help you increase your company’s flexibility. We help you focus on your core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints.

Product / Warranty Support

Customer Care

Professional Services

Smart Media Delivery & Conferencing

Superfast high quality distribution of digital information to audiences across the globe.

Global Smart Content Delivery

Web Acceleration

Media Streaming Services

Live & on demand Web TV enablement

3D and HDTV broadcast contribution & distribution enablement

NTT Com companies operating in Australia are:

NTT Communications Australia
Local ICT services provider, backed by an extensive global organisation. Your gateway to Asia and the globe, for ICT services around the world in 159 countries. http://www.au.ntt.com/en/

(Reuters) – Few organizations have moved to cloud computing — the delivery of computing as a service from remote centers — and of those that have, many are disappointed with the results, a survey published on Tuesday found.

Fewer than one in five organizations questioned have outsourced the hosting of their applications to cloud computing providers, with two-thirds in early discussions, in trials or not considering a move, said computer security firm Symantec.

Many firms are looking at cloud computing providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, Google or Rackspace to help them increase their scale without installing expensive hardware and software locally.

My Take> I’m not surprised by the results of the survey. Security and Data Sovereignty are certainly two of the biggest issues with first generation cloud services. This short Reuters article also touches on other areas of concern I have mentioned in a previous blog about business continuance and disaster recovery.

Adaptation to cloud services still has many challenges and a major re-education of both Enterprise and Corporate Cloud users is still needed. Just because your applications are in the cloud it doesn’t suddenly make them Omni-present.

I’ve seen smaller businesses, corporates, and even some enterprise businesses move to cloud applications including Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Azure, Gmail, Amazon and SalesForce.com. All services by reputable brands, yet nearly all of the businesses moving to these Cloud services have overestimated the resilience and security of both their own infrastructure and the Cloud provider’s services.

I believe it’s unwise for business to put front office or back office applications in the cloud without looking at the bigger picture. The whole strategy of IT needs to be considered and how to approach corporate security, business continuance, disaster recovery, cloud integration and life cycle management, these among many other factors.

One of the biggest underlying challenges of all these issues is that very few of the cloud services providers are themselves in a position to consult or educate businesses on the full range of considerations for moving to the cloud. Most cloud service providers are only interested in turning businesses into zombie consumers of cloud without regard to the abovementioned.

We are still only at the dawn of the cloud evolution, and as we educate the market how to plan for and move to cloud in 2012, we will see the real evolution and uptake in Cloud 2.0. 😉

Like this:

You don’t need to be Einstein to work out we are in an era of increased natural disasters, large scale and controversial security breaches, and even bigger system outages and disruptions caused by our increased reliance on cloud applications, social media and outsourced services. A few well known names and events come to mind, some very close to home, and this is without even considering the aspects of terrorism or social engineering security issues.

I’ve personally been victim and witness to all three scenarios myself in the last year, and with all the hype around cloud as the new promise land, it got me thinking about the many years I spent consulting with global financial institutions about BCP and DR.

How do you do BCP or DR when your services are in the Cloud?
Do you have a Crisis Management Plan?

Most Enterprise businesses spend millions on business continuity and disaster recovery planning, but the preparedness of the corporate market is very patchy and most small businesses just shrug their shoulders when you ask them about DR.

The bottom line is you need to at least have a Crisis Management Plan and basic Business Continuance Plan with a few “what if” scenarios to be properly prepared for the worst. This will help protect your brand whether your a supplier or consumer of cloud services.

Im not an expert in Crisis Management, but I found this Crisis Management article from Eric Mower & Associates a good example of where many of those from the incidents above, failed dismally, especially in the public relations department.

If anyone would like my advice on BCP or DR matters, I spent several years consulting to many of the worlds top financial institutions and I would be happy to share my knowledge and experience and how I see BCP and DR in Cloud Computing. So drop me a line!

NEW YORK — It was widely known that Amazon.com was working on a color, touch-screen version of its popular Kindle, the gadget that established the market for e-readers.

But founder Jeff Bezos still surprised the world Wednesday by unveiling the Kindle Fire, a polished and potent 7-inch device with a $199 price that will disrupt the surging market for Web tablets and erode the dominance of Apple’s iPad..

My Take> A great alternative to the iPad for many users, especially kids. I love my iPad, but this is a great innovation and example of where cloud computing and consumer technology are going. Using Amazon compute power on the server side to do the heavy lifting and optimize the content for the light weight and more affordable Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet.

I won’t be getting one, but what a great (more) affordable gift for the kids to keep them from continually stealing your iPad!

One of the most interesting trends in cloud computing is the emergence of “hybrid” solutions which span environments that were historically isolated from one another. A traditional data center offers finite capacity in support of business applications, but it is ultimately limited by obvious constraints (physical space, power, cooling, etc.). Virtualization has extended the runway a bit, effectively increasing density within the data center, however the physical limits remain.”

Like this:

Ingram Signs up with Ultra Serve to provide resellers with the chance to supply and configure white-label services to customers

Ingram Micro has signed up services, cloud and hosting specialist, Ultra Serve, as its first partner in its newly formed Services Group.
Through Ultra Serve, it will offer a suite of hosted infrastructure services including virtual machines, dedicated machines, Cloud machines and managed services.
It will be hosted via Ultra Serve’s local datacentre facilities and resellers can white-label and configure the services through a Web portal.

My Take> Great work by Samuel to put such a strategic channel partner on his hosted platform. Also a great move by Ingram to get into the cloud and hosting market with a white label service. I’ve seen the Ultra Serve platform management console in action and it’s a very slick system and a great fit for this customer segment. Well done Samuel!

Like this:

As the NBN continues to roll out across Australia preparing us for the next evolution of the digital age and cloud computing, the pace of growth of data centres across Asia Pacific continues to increase. Frost & Sullivan are predicting 14.6% growth in Data Centre Capacity across Asia, generating revenues exceeding $10 billion by the end of this year.

Australia together with Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong are leading the growth, with internet media, telecom and IT industries accounting for up to 45% of the demand according to their research. I know from first hand experience with the competition in the local market, that there is a massive investment in facilities going into Australia, with more than half a billion dollars of investment in facilities over the next 2 years in Australia alone.

Much of the 1st stages of that increased capacity are coming online in the next 6-12 months in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane from the likes of Global Switch, NextDC, Equinix, Digital Reality Trust, Fujitsu, NTT, Pacnet, HP, Macquarie Telecom, Telstra and several tier 2 providers. Even the big international players want in on the action in Australia over the next two years. After cautiously examining the market for the last few years Rackspace, Google, Microsoft, Savvis and others are looking at opportunities to establish a local DC footprint with foundation customers.

We havent seen IT data centre infrastructure investment like this since the last DC frenzy back around Y2K, with many of those operators going broke, and some facilities changing ownership several times before turning a profit.

Lets hope our politicians and financial markets navigate a way through this latest economic turmoil to ensure we don’t see a repeat of data centres sitting empty for 5 years, just like during the dotcom bubble burst not that long ago. With the economic pressures, cloud computing and the maturity of virtualisation and consolidation all reducing the need for more capacity, do we really need this much investment in capacity?

Sure we need newer more efficient facilities but I think you will see some players that haven’t already broken ground and made the initial investment, perhaps sit back and wait a little longer to see the dust settle on the economy. Unless I had significant pre-sold or comitted capacity from foundation customers, in this market, I wouldn’t be sinking the tens of millions of dollars needed to build, especially with the glut of capacity that’s about to come on the market. Your thoughts?